Well cleaner



Oct 1940- M. MILLER El AL WELL CLEANER 2 Sheets-Sheet l v Filed July 11,1959

Z 3 m 9 .M 3 2 U I m 6 M L 7 Nu 5H; 2 9 8 a 2 a w 5 9 2 i/ 2 KM 0U \A\ Oct. 1, 1940- M. MILLER ET AL.

WELL CLEANER 2 Sheeis-Sheet 2 'Filed July 11 1939 Leon 1V3 Da vz's Patented Oct. 1 1940' srAras g "f 231m o I a WELL CLEANER I Melvin Miller and Leon mums, Flushing, Mich. v

Application Julyll, 1939, Serial No: 283,893

a c aims. (or. 166 18) This invention relates to well cleaners or scrapers of that general class shown and described in United States Letters Patent-issued to us jointly on May 9, 1939, under No.'2,157,493,the present 5 application being for an improvement thereon."

The object of the invention'is generally' to, im-= prove and simplify the construction of the cleaner so as to increase its' durability and efliciencyias well as to reduce the cost of production; v

l Afurther object is to provide-novel means for mounting the scraper arms and holding said arms in operative and inoperativeposition's.* t

vA further object is to provide a well cleaner or scraper including a tubular body portion having a 15 sleeveor housing slidably mounted thereon and which fserves, to hold the arms of'the'scraper assembly. in closed or'retracted position when lowering the device into a well, and further-to provide superposed coiled springs surrounding the 20 tubularv body and normally exerting a downward I yieldable pressure onithescraper arm-assembly and housing respectively,.said springs being alternately under tension and compression according to the position of said scraper arms.

25 A further object is to .provide the lower'end'oi thetubular body portionwith an enlarged head or spreader which contacts, the free ends of the scraper arms and forcessald arms laterally into engagement with the .well casing under the in- 30 fi ence of the arm assemblyzspring when the housing is released. r w

A still further object-of the invention is tonumerals of. reference indicate corresponding 40 parts in all the figures of the drawings. i

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a .verticalgsectional view of a well scra or or cleaner embodying the present invention showing the scraper arms in closed or re- 45 tracted position and a the device ready 'to be lowered into a well, 1 V

Figure 2 is a front elevation,

Figure 3 is a vertical, sectional view showingrzthe scraper arms in extended or operative position,

50 and v i r Figured-is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the scraper armrunit'or assembly.

In carrying the invention into effect, we pro-- vide a solid-coupler head 5 having its upper end 55 threaded at 6 for attachment to a correspondingly threaded stem-or, if de'siredyto an operating cable'and its lower end reducedto'form a'jdepending shank l5 Loosely mounted on the shank] is a collar 8, and rigidly secured .t'othe shank beneath the collar is a' 'smaIIer'QcQHar 9 which} serves to receive and sustainfthe weight of the operating parts o f'the device whenlowering' said device into or removing the device from the well. The shank'land rigid collar 9 thus form, in effect,

a-swiveljoint, and interposed between'the rub 10 bing surfaces of the collars 8 and 8 is a flat'washer ID; as shown; Rigidly secured to the collar 8 is a depending sleeve ll, the lower end of which is welded or otherwise secured to a'tubular member or body portion l2. -The body portion I2 is provided with oppositely disposed-registeringslots l3, and the lower enclof said body portion is prefer: ably reduced at 14 and is provided with a substantially-globular terminal head l5 constituting a spreader member." Slidably mounted on the tubular member I2 is a cylindrical housing I6, said housing being centered with respect to the reduced cylindrical portion I4 by means of "an annular spacing-member I! which latter is secured to the housing IB butis free tov slide therewith on the tubular member, as will be more fullyfex-i plained hereinafter. Extending through the housing IG-and'spacing' member I1 is a transverse pin l8 which operates within the slots l3 andserves to guide the housing l6 in its vertical movement. Fitting within the reduced extension M of the tubular member I2 is a rod or plunger IS, the lower' end of which projects below the spreader member or head l5 while the upper end thereof is provided with a-transverse opening '20 through which the pin l8 passes so "as fto'c'ause the housing and plunger l9 to move in unison.

Slidablymounted'on the cylindrical portion I4 is a scraper arm assembly, said assembly com-' prising a retainingcolla'r ZI'hav'ing a series of 40 radial openings 22 ,formed therein and adapted to I receive the angular terminals 23 of depending scraper arms 24. The metal constituting the retaining collar 2l is cut-away immediately below each opening 22 to form an outwardly inclined wall 25 so as to permit lateralswinging movement of the arms 24 when the latter are moved to' extended position into engagement with the wall ofa well. The angular terminals of the arms 24 are retained within the openings 22 by means of a locking'sleeve 26 which has a tight fit with the retaining collar 2| but is free to slide on the ex-- tension 14. It will thus be seen that the upper ends of the scraper arms 24 are pivotally con neqt'ed with the retaining collar so as to permit said arms to be swung laterally from a vertical plane outwardly to the dotted line position shown in Figure 4 of the drawings, while at the same time the retaining ring and its associated parts are free to slide vertically on the extension I4 of the body portion I2. The locking sleeve 26 not only serves to retain the pivoted ends of the scraper arms in position on the retaining collar but by removing the sleeve 26 the several parts may be readily disassembled when it is necessary to effect any necessary repairs thereto. The lower ends of the arms 24 are provided with lateral scraping fingers 21 having sharpened teeth 28 adapted to bite into' parafiin or other deposits on the well casing for the purpose of removing the same when the device is lowered into a well. The scraping fingers 21 of the arms 24 are connected by reinforcing webs 29 which allow the teeth 2&- to slide over joints in the pipe being cleaned.

Interposed between the retaining collar 2I and an offset portion 30 on the tubular member I2,- is acoiled spring 3I, the purpose of, whichfis to force the, scraper arms 24 downwardly in contact with the spreader head I5 and thus cause said arms to assume the position shown in Figure 3 of the drawings. A coiled spring 32 surrounds the tubular member I2 with one end thereof bearing against the sleeve II and the other end thereof against the spacing ring I1, said spring serving to normally and yieldably hold the housing IS in lowered position over the spreader arms and, therefore, prevent movement of said spreader arms when the device is lowered into a well. Itwill here be noted that one of the coiled springs is always under tension while the other is under compression.

In operation, the device is lowered into a well until the end of the plunger or rod I9 strikes the bottom thereof. When this occurs, the upper end of the plunger I9, by engagement with the pin I8, will force the housing I6 upwardly against the tension of the spring 32 so as to release the arms 24. As soon as the arms 24 arereleased, the coiled spring 3| will press downwardly on the re-,- taining collar 2I and force the lower ends of the scraper arms 24 in contact with the spreader head I5, thereby spreading the active ends of the scraper arms laterally in contact with the adjacent wall of the well to be cleaned, as best shown in Figure 3 of the drawings. When the device is elevated or partially elevated, the lower .end of the rod I9 will clear the bottom of the well, thereby relieving pressure. on the pin 20 and causing the spring 32 to return the housing I6 to a position over the scraper arms 24 and thus hold said scraper arms in closed or inoperative position during withdrawal of the device from the well. It will thus be seen that, when the plunger I9 strikes the bottom of the well, the housing I6 will be forced upwardly contracting the spring 32 and permitting the spring 3I to expand to force the lower ends of the scraper arms 24 into engagement with the head I5 so as to move said arms laterally to operative position and that, when the lower end of the rod I9 is elevated above the bottom of the well, the spring 32 will expand and force the housing I 6 downwardly to hold the scraper arms in inoperative position and at the same time the spring 3| will be contracted and held in contracted position until the housing I6 is again released. The outer surface of the housing I6 is formed with a plurality of spaced vertical ribs 33 which act as guides and serve to prevent the housing from scraping the sides of t well,

From the foregoing description, it is. thought that the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood by those skilled in the art and further description thereof is deemed unnecessary.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as' new is:

1. A well cleaner comprising a tubular member, a scraper assembly slidably mounted on said member and including pivotally mounted laterally movable scraper elements, a plunger operating within the tubular member, a housing connected with the plunger for holding the scraper elements in closed position, a spreader disposed in the path of the scraper elements, and springs surrounding the tubular member and bearing against the housing and scraper assembly respectively for exerting a downward yieldable pressure thereon.

2. A well cleaner comprising a tubular member, a scraper assembly mounted on said member 3. A well cleaner comprising a tubular member,

a scraper assembly mounted on said member and including laterally movable scraper elements, a plunger operating within the tubular member, a housing operatively connected with the plunger for holding the scraper elements in closed position, a spreader carried by'the tubular member and disposed in the path of the scraper elements, and alternately acting coiled springs surrounding the tubular member and bearing against the housing and scraper assembly respectively.

4. A well cleaner comprising a tubular member, a scraper assembly slldably mounted on said member and including a retaining ring having lateral openings therein-and provided with inclined walls communicating with the openings, scraper arms having their upper ends formed with angular terminals seated in said openings and their lower ends provided with angular toothed portions, a plunger operating within the tubular member, a housing connected with the plunger for holding the scraper arms in closed position, a spreader disposed in the path 01' the scraper arms for forcing said arms laterally, and coiled springs surroundingzthe tubular member and bearing against the housing and retaining collar respectively.

5. A well cleaner including a tubular member, a scraper assembly-slldably mounted on said member and including a retaining collar having radial openings therein and provided withoutaway portions communicating with said openings and defining outwardly inclined walls, scraper arms having their upper portions providedwlth angular terminals seated in said openings and their lower ends formed with lateral toothed extensions, inclined reinforcing webs connecting the toothed extensions and adjacent portions of the scraper arms, a locking sleeve rigidly secured to the retaining collar and movable therewith, said collar serving to hold the angular terminals of bearing against the housing connected with the plunger for holding the scrapposition, a spreader, and springs er arms in closed and scraper assembly respectively for exerting a downward yieldable pressure thereon. 1

6. A well cleaner including a coupling having means for attachment to a suspension element and provided with a depending shank, a collar loosely mounted on the shank, a sleeve secured to and depending from the collar, a stop collar secured to the lower end of the shank, a tubular member secured to the sleeve and provided with oppositely disposed slots, a plunger disposed within the tubular member, a housing slidably mounted on the tubular member, a spacing ring interposed between the housing and tubular member, a pin carried by through the spacing member and said plunger, a scraper assembly slidably mounted on the tubular member and including depending scraper arms pivotally mounted for lateral movement, a spreader disposed in the path of said arms, and coiled springs surrounding the tubular member and bearing against the spacing ring and said scraper assembly respectively for exerting a downward yieldable pressure thereon.

'7. A well cleaner comprising a tubular member having oppositely disposed slots formed therein and provided with a reduced cylindrical extension, a spreader head on the lower end of said extension, tension, a housing slidably mounted on the tubular member, a spacing ring interposed between the tubular member and said housing, a transverse pin extending through the adjacent end of the plunger and slots in the tubular member for engagement with the housing and spacing ring rethe housing and extending a plunger extending through the tubular exspectively, a scraper assembly slidably mounted on the reduced cylindrical portion of the tubular member and including pivotally mounted scraper arms, a coiled spring surrounding the tubular member and bearing against the spacing ring, and

a second coiled spring bearing against the scraper assembly and the adjacent portion of the tubular member, one of said springs being under tension while the other is under compression and serving to normally exert a downward yieldable pressure on the adjacent parts.

8. A well cleaner including a tubular member having a reduced cylindrical extension, a scraper assembly slidably mounted on said reduced extension and including a -retaining ring having radiating openings therein and provided with cutaway portions having outwardly inclined walls communicating with said openings, scraper arms having their upper portions pivotally mounted in said openings and their lower portions formed with scrapingelements, a locking ring for retaining the upper ends of the scraping arms within the openings, said locking ring having a snug fit with the retaining collar but free to slide on the cylindrical extension of the tubular member, a spreader secured to the lower end of said extension, 9. plunger operating within the tubular member, a housing slidably mounted on the tubular member and operatively connected with the plunger, and coiled springs bearing against the housing and scraper assembly respectively, one of said springs being under tension while the other is under compression and both of said springs serving to normally exert a downward yieldable pressure on said housing and scraper assembly.

MELVIN MILLER. LEON N. DAVIS. 

